The interpretation of nonverbal communication, i.e. gestures and sounds, is crucial for the care taking and treatment of nonverbal individuals. Young children who have not yet learned to speak use behaviors such as movements, gestures and sounds to express their needs and current state of emotions and well being. Nonverbal communication is often the only means of expression for individuals with hearing loss, autism and other disorders and illnesses. Even for verbal individuals, nonverbal communication, if interpreted properly, can be used to recognize, diagnose and track treatment of medical disorders.
From time immemorial, parents, as an example, have been faced with the challenge of determining the meaning behind gestures and sounds produced by their nonverbal infants and toddlers. New, inexperienced parents resort to trial and error to determine what need the child is expressing. Experienced parents and care givers often encounter nonverbal communicative behaviors with which they are not familiar. Child and parent are apt to experience frustration upon erroneous interpretations of the child's nonverbal communications. The child's frustration masks the actual need being expressed. The parent's frustration is sensed by the child and will interfere with making a proper interpretation of the child's communications. The frustrations can bring on undesirable behaviors on the part of the parent or child. Within time, the inexperienced parent will usually learn to intuitively recognize patterns and correctly interpret their child's nonverbal communications with which they are familiar. In most cases the frustration could have been avoided by providing the inexperienced parent with the knowledge accumulated by experienced caretakers. However, there is no effective means for a parent to discover caretakers who have experience with the particular behavior the parent is having trouble interpreting. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method to provide caretakers of individuals with access to knowledge of nonverbal behavior accumulated by experienced caretakers for interpreting nonverbal communicative behavior of nonverbal individuals.
However, there are instances in which a nonverbal communication is not contained within the knowledge already accumulated. The gesture, sound or movement recognized may be particular to the individual child or may indicate a condition which does not fall within the norm. It is probable that the interpretation of the nonverbal communication, once discovered, will be of aide to a caretaker at some point in the future. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for tracking previously unrecognized behaviors of individuals until an interpretation is discovered, and adding the newly interpreted behavior to the already accumulated knowledge.
There are instances in which an individual's nonverbal communication is related to current situational conditions such as an event or an object proximate to the individual. It is difficult for a caretaker of the individual to account for the variable events or objects which might be affecting the individual under their care, making it difficult for the caretaker to associate the individual's behavior with an event or object. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method of associating events and proximate objects to the behaviors of an individual.
Once a behavior occurs, it is difficult for care givers and caretakers to compare it with other behavioral occurrences and to associate it with situational conditions. Each behavior is a composite of many factors. Tracking each factor of a behavior is confusing and time consuming. A caretaker may not be capable of tracking proximate events or objects for the purposes of association with the behavioral occurrences, particularly when the association is not obvious. In addition, the process of observing for the purpose of recognizing repetitive behaviors takes care givers and caretakers away from their other duties and responsibilities. Furthermore, it is difficult for a parent to be objective about their own child's behavior and to see it realistically. Therefore, there is the need for a system and method for recognizing a repetitive behavior and studying it through observing it repetitively and analyzing it.
It may be impossible for a parent or care giver to observe or study a child's behavior from the same place where the child is located. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method to provide the ability to observe the behavior of an individual from a location remote from the individual.
There are situations in which a caretaker cannot guard the individual under their care from every danger in the environment. For example, the caretaker may be caring for more than one individual, may be distracted while performing one of their duties, may be unfamiliar with dangers in the environment, may be caring for an individual who tends to sneak and seek out trouble, etc. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method of alerting a caretaker when an individual under their care is exposed to potential danger.
In summary, there is a need for a system and method for providing a caretaker of an individual with the ability to identify nonverbal behaviors of an individual under their care by comparing and matching the behavior with a collection of previously recorded nonverbal communicative behaviors, for associating nonverbal behaviors to situational conditions, for recognizing patterns of behavior and associating situational conditions to the behavioral patterns, and for alerting a caretaker when a nonverbal behavior poses a danger.